Wanderer

I like that concept as well. Also as mentioned in another thread, I'd be very interested in seeing "shield tanking" made a viable mechanic ala Eve. That way you can have a shield tank, vs armor tank type situation which would also make varied types of damage much more a viable thing. (As I discussed in another thread xD)

Wanderer

I like that concept as well. Also as mentioned in another thread, I'd be very interested in seeing "shield tanking" made a viable mechanic ala Eve. That way you can have a shield tank, vs armor tank type situation which would also make varied types of damage much more a viable thing. (As I discussed in another thread xD)

Resident Of Avalon

I like that concept as well. Also as mentioned in another thread, I'd be very interested in seeing "shield tanking" made a viable mechanic ala Eve. That way you can have a shield tank, vs armor tank type situation which would also make varied types of damage much more a viable thing. (As I discussed in another thread xD)

Not really, since light armor has more shield than the heavy armor, so making "shield tanking" a thing will mean giving the light armored characters the ability to tank as well as heavy armored do, making heavy armor useless (since it will be heavier and slower). Why use a heavy slow armor if you can tank the boss with light and fast one?

Wanderer

Not really, since light armor has more shield than the heavy armor, so making "shield tanking" a thing will mean giving the light armored characters the ability to tank as well as heavy armored do, making heavy armor useless (since it will be heavier and slower). Why use a heavy slow armor if you can tank the boss with light and fast one?

Wanderer

Not really, since light armor has more shield than the heavy armor, so making "shield tanking" a thing will mean giving the light armored characters the ability to tank as well as heavy armored do, making heavy armor useless (since it will be heavier and slower). Why use a heavy slow armor if you can tank the boss with light and fast one?

The short answer is because we are in alpha and given this fact, we have the advantage that everything is open to change. Or more specifically we are at the point in the game where we have this opportunity to add an extra layer to PVE and PVP that will perhaps make the game more fun by allowing extra choices.

The longer answer? See below! And yeah I typed the long answer first xD

Not exactly. Who said that the regen for shields has to at the exact same rate as it does for armor? We do know that already shields drain, and regenerate a lot quicker than does armor. So would it really hurt to increase the rate at which shield regen to make it a viable tanking option through the use of addons or armor modifications that add to the regeneration speed of the armor, much in the way you could do so for the shields? Because in the end this would lead to a much more diverse form of play styles. (which is awesome in my mind at least!)

For example, you could take advantage of depending on your regen rate to keep you alive. So that your light armor depends on the ability of the shielding to fill back up after taking a few shots to keep you alive. That would be pretty effective against higher rate, smaller damage weapons. up close fighting, light rifles etc. But would be a lot less of a good idea against heavier weapons - melee, sniper rifles, higher damage, slower firing rifles, rocket launchers, and so on! Or you could try to balance out (but not as effectively as medium or heavy armor) the regen of your shields with an attempt to bolster your physical armor, so that maybe you can take more than two hits when by one of the larger weapons in the hopes of have enough of a regen to keep alive while making your get away.

While on the other hand looking at heavy armor you'd be equipped to deal with taking either sustained punishment (that comes from lighter weapons), or even bear the brunt of the heaviest of attacks. This would be the result of a situation where you have a larger amount of HP (read armor ) to spare. As such you can look into maximizing the regeneration of this armor through modifications that allow you to regain more of your armor back as opposed to the slow ..... slow trickle that is HP compared to shields! Now yes you would be slower, but at the same time because you already are slower. It wont make as much of a different to carry heavier weapons, or even more items.

And of course medium armor would offer that happy (medium) between the two, offering more flexibility obviously especially with the use of modifications. Now not as well as heavy , or light mind you... but something that is still more versatile when dealing with different types of other groups.

Add to this that already it has been mentioned that different damage types will be a thing in this game. This could add to further add customization, or choices to be made through allowing people certain resistances, or vulnerabilities to specific types of damages based on their choice of armor (light, med, heavy) while also allowing further choices in what type of resistance you can build by adding or seeking to obtain different items or armors that could give such resistances.